Midweek Update

It's hard to believe we are already into the 5th week of the semester -- yet, it feels good to be in a routine (as much as we can have one here). I think the first wave of exams is starting to hit, and with the longer hours for studies comes news of illness starting to creep into worn out bodies. Thankfully we still have our health.

I can't say as much for our laptop. Last weekend it refused to turn on. Well, that's not exactly true. We get a black screen with a four word error message. Nathan's research leads him to believe we've got a corrupt sector on the laptop's harddrive. Is there a cure? Yes, to completely re-format (erase) the hard drive and reload our software. Thankfully I recently backed up Ellie's photos through the end of August. I'm not so sure I backed up the rest of our photos, and I know I haven't backed-up our financial files or 'My Documents' folder since March. Due to a crazy weekend followed by Nathan going to Marion for WGM meetings, today was the first he really had a chance to work on trying to dump the contents of the 'good' portion of the hard drive, but twice bought the wrong components. The correct component is now on order and won't be here for a few more days. Until it arrives, I'm not going to stress about what I may or may not have lost.

Meanwhile, life goes on and our little bit of fun news is that Ellie seems like she's just on the verge of saying some words. I also believe her comprehension is expanding (she started fussing when she heard me say the word 'nap' yesterday). One has to listen carefully, but what she prefers to imitate are the beginnings of phrases in songs ('Row Row' for Row, Row, Row Your Boat, and "Ho, Ho, Ho" for Ho, Ho, Ho, Hosanna", and Aye-Oh, for O-H-I-O). It's cool to see that she's beginning to connect the effect she has on us when she employs her mouth and tongue to make specific noises. Otherwise, she's hardly quiet, experimenting with one sound or another whether it's walking around the house or playing in the bathtub, or trying to stay awake in her crib.

Another big difference in her is evident anytime you take her to Wal Mart, for example. Her world has expanded exponentially in the last few months and all of a sudden she's noticing everything, including the contents of shopping carts several yards away (especially if they have large, bright green balls inside). At which point she acts like a typical 2-year-old and can pitch great fits when she doesn't get her way. You can pray for us as we try to figure out how to navigate these parental waters. ;-)

We were excited to get the news on Monday that our request for additional therapy credits was granted. Already, Ellie was receiving the maximum number of units allowable by the State, but we have a great pediatrician and team of therapists who went to bat for her and appealed for an exception. We're now getting one hour of therapy a week in speech, and 30 minutes per week in each of the other disciplines.

Sorry no photos today! Perhaps soon.

The Eernisses

Friday was a special day we've been looking forward to for several weeks! We got to meet the Eernisses! Sharon works for Bethany in Grand Rapids and was very helpful to us at various stages in Ellie's adoption (she works with families adopting from Lithuania and Albania). Her husband, Roger, has visited Albania where he evidently learned the art of making a great first impression with Albanian kids because he hit it off very well with Ellie, as you can see in some of these photos! We appreciate the detour they made from their visit to Berea, KY to have lunch with us in Wilmore so we could meet them in person!

AUTHOR'S NOTE: this is a 'double blog-er' day, so keep scrolling down for another post...

Ellie & Samuel

Swinging is always a favorite park pastime

Ellie's not so sure she's cut out to be a fire woman

She thinks she's at the beach and can bury Sam in mulch

Late last week we got to briefly see some friends who are preparing to move to Sweden in a few days. They have a 3 year old son, Samuel, whom they adopted from Nepal. Between Andreas, Laurie and Samuel, you don't want to know how many passports they carry. :-) Since they've been living in Mississippi, this is the first time the kids have really gotten to interact much, but it was enough time to capture some photos to show them when they're young adults at Asbury someday. Thankfully, they engage in the art of blogging (you can thank them that we started this one) so we know we'll be able to follow their lives across the pond.

Baking Cookies

Let's look at the recipe
Dad, we need sugar

stirring the dry ingredients

Unfortunately I missed the best picture (or perhaps, video) to end this series...when she made a beeline for the plate of cookies at last night's student cabinet meeting. She ate two and had chocolate all around her mouth.

Some news from Coldwater Orphanage

Mom just returned from her latest trip to Albania last week. Before she left, she made a day-long visit to Vlora to visit Ellie's former orphanage. Mom e-mailed us some precious photos on Monday, including this one of two of Ellie's former caregivers that I thought I would share here. They're looking at some current photos of Ellie that Mom brought with her. While I know how much Ellie has changed since coming home with us in December, I shouldn't have been surprised to see that her old roommies have also changed significantly. Wow! All were still in the orphanage except one who went back to his family.

On a related note, last week we also got the exciting news that a little boy who lived in the room next door to Ellie was referred to a Bethany family in the States! We've exchanged a number of e-mails and are grateful that some of what we learned through our experiences during all those weeks in Vlora may be helpful to someone else. In seeing this little boy's picture, we were able to locate him in some photos from Ellie's farewell party.

Ever since we met those kids, we have prayed for them to find the love of a permanent family. And selfishly, I've prayed that one of them might end up with one of the families I have gotten to know who are in the process of adopting from Albania. In spite of these prayers, I can't begin to describe how surprised I was to get this exciting news (Ellie was the first child from Vlora that Bethany had ever in all their years of working in Albania placed with a family)! Even though he's not going to one of the prospective adoptive families I had gotten to know this year, we're getting to know this family quickly and I am just as excited! Their little boy is just 5 weeks older than Ellie. How nice it will be to have this connection with another child so close in age (even though he will be living a few states away)! God is good!

Back yard stroll (last week)

Ellie turns 27 months...

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

(e) my favorite

(f)

(g)

My, how time flies! When did Ellie turn from baby into little girl? One thing that hasn't changed is her ever-expressive face. I thought you might enjoy a few of these different 'faces' I got this afternoon. Which is your favorite?

Ellie Demonstrates That She Can Feed Herself

Weekend Picts

Ellie is drawn like a magnet to Marshall's drum as you can see in the photo above. This was taken during warm ups prior to Sunday evening's Global Cafe at the student center. I love how fearless and comfortable she is with the college students who come through here and they love her for it. Plus, she was adorable carrying around this Kroger balloon she was given earlier that day. It hardly left her hand and conveniently coordinated with her outfit. Sorry I couldn't get her to turn around for the camera!

Ellie and I enjoying a swim at the lake during Cabinet retreat on Saturday. One of my favorite memories of her during retreat was wanting in the middle of a pile of giggling, college girls stacked like pancakes on the couch. She wanted right in the middle of it, laughing along with the rest of them.

Laundry help

I heard some 'unusual' noises coming from the washing machine this evening. Here's what I discovered (these are not 'posed' photos). Ellie's unspoken dialogue went something like this...

"Look, Mom. I can run the washing machine like you!"

"You push this button and all the lights come on and I hear pretty bells!"

"Then you push this button and the door lock makes a loud clicking noise."

"Then you push this button and you can hear water gushing!"

"Now I can watch my clothes spin!"

Oh the joys of growing independence. :-)

Ellie & Beth

To help Ellie better communicate her desires, Ellie's speech therapist recommended that we make her a photo book of her favorite things (foods, toys, activities like swinging or bath time) along with photos of significant people in her life, including her therapists so we could prepare her for their arrival for therapy.

Here is Ellie with her physical therapist, Beth. Last night we practiced walking on grass! I think it was Ellie's favorite session to date!

Book Review -- Albanian Escape.

I realize that we have a lot of different types of visitors to this blog -- some who know us personally, some who read it for the adoption angle, and some who share our connection with Albania. This post is primarily going to appeal to the latter group, but I think really anyone would find this book interesting!

When it comes to finding books at your local bookstore about Albania, well, you will most likely come up disappointed. I don't know that I've even found so much as a travel guide, let alone an historical account. Many books on Albanian culture that were recommended to us by Bethany are special order books, or books related to the Balkans in general and not specific to Albania.

A few weeks ago I was reading the little Google news ticker in the right hand margin of this blog which had a link to a column in the Cincinnati Enquirer about the book, 'Albanian Escape' by Agnes Jensen Mangerich. The book has actually been in print for about 10 years, but I suppose that since it was released by a small publisher, it was in limited distribution. I don't remember why it was on the radar of this particular columnist to be writing about the book now, but anyway, I was thrilled to be able to find it on Amazon and promptly ordered a copy.

The book lived up to it's reviews and then some! Contrary to what you might think from the title, it's not the account of anyone evading capture from Albanians. Rather, it's the true story of 30 American military personnel who crash-landed in Nazi occupied Albania in the fall of 1943. Miraculously, all of the passengers (including 13 female nurses) survived the crash (which occured in the mountains between Elbason and Berat). What was more tenuous was the 800-mile, 2-month-long hike (they got re-routed several times) through the Albanian country side trying to evade the Nazis and German sympathizers. This was at a time when Albania only had 26 miles of paved roads.

It's hard to sum up why I liked this book so much! First of all, I'm ashamed that I know so little about the extent of Albania's involvement in WWII! I think my studies of WWII centered primarily on the central-eastern European theaters of Austria, Poland, Hungary, Czechoslavakia, Russia, etc. I've even seen memorials in Albania about WWII, but didn't realize how brutal the Nazis were to Albanians, burning villages down with the occupants locked inside or even 'just' stealing their livestock and winter's supply of food.

Secondly, it was fascinating to read accounts like when the Nazis attacked Berat, a beautiful city I have had the privilege of visiting on multiple occasions. Knowing how the city is laid out, I could envision the account vividly! The same with other places like Gjirokaster, and key rendezvous rescue points along the Adriatic coast (Becca & Bookers, remember the coastal drive down to Saranda?).

More significantly, it was humbling to read how graciously most Albanians received (at great personal risk) this rag-tag group of hungry, sick, weary American service men and women who didn't even know where they were when their flight to Bari, Italy crash-landed 'just' a few miles off course. The mountainous terrain made an air rescue impossible, so thanks to a few English-speaking Albanian guides, they hiked through rain, sleet, and snow, often arriving in villages unannounced just looking for a place to sleep, all in an effort to get to the coast for a sea rescue. (The book contains wonderful descriptions of the journey -- including the homes in which they stayed and what they ate -- thanks to the author's detailed diary which she kept at the time.)

Needless to say, I read through the book quickly. I was so excited to come across such an uplifting book to share with Ellie when she grows up. It portrays Albanians in such a possitive (non-condescending) light and shares a story of their sacrifice to help others from whom they would have no means of being repaid. What a lesson for all of us.

Goin' to the chapel...

Ellie got all prettied up for Emily and Thomas' wedding this evening.

This photo doesn't do justice to the beautiful courtyard at this church. Ellie LOVED the fountain (of course).

Think she'd make a good cheerleader?

College Football Season is Here!

Ellie, Queen of Styrofoam

This week we got one of those build-it-yourself furniture pieces, which of course came packed in lots of protective material -- which Ellie quickly learned had pieces just her size and that were fun to disintegrate.